Yellow
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Adam?" Katy asked, glancing over her shoulder down the road where their house remained, with Kris and Kaleb inside, by themselves.
"Positive," Adam nodded from behind the wheel of his car. Driving with his injured hand had become second-nature, and Adam was glad for that. "Think of it as retail therapy. A little time spent on you, for a change."
Adam had stopped by Kris and Katy's with one objective in mind. To get Katy out of the house, and give her a break. And get some good shopping in, but that was never a hardship. Katy had a thing to go to anyway, that she had to be dressed up for, and Adam had it on good authority that the only time Katy bought herself new clothes was if she had to dress for an event. The way Adam saw it, he was doing her a favor.
Kris had been the one to call and say she needed it. He had encouraged Adam to go hang out with her for a while. He would be fine, with Kaleb - their 18-month-old little boy. Kris had managed by himself before. In the six months since Kaleb had been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy six months earlier, Katy had rarely left his side.
--
They were walking into one of Adam's favorite stores when Katy's phone rang. She reached automatically for it.
"Don't you dare," Adam warned, smiling.
"What?" Katy asked. "What if they need me? What if it's an emergency?"
"That's what 911 is for," Adam quipped, but took the phone from her hand and pressed a button. "Hello?" he asked.
On the other end of the call, Kris watched, horrified as the vegetables he was warming up for Kaleb sparked and smoked in the microwave. "Adam?! The carrot's on fire!" he blurted, alarmed.
Adam squinted at the phone and pressed a button to turn it off, handing it back to Katy.
Kris could run towards a fire a year and a half ago, without a second thought, but one look at a flaming vegetable made him panic? Adam rolled his eyes.
"Is everything okay?" she asked, looking through dresses on various racks.
"Yeah, fine," Adam confirmed. "Hey, what about this one? You'd look great in blue."
"Well, what was the problem?" she pressed, holding the dress up to herself, distracted by the conversation.
"Your husband can't microwave his own food," Adam passed on plainly, scrutinizing a dress and holding it up for Katy. "What about this? Lots of sparkles..." he bribed.
"And he can cook way better than me," Katy mused, smiling slightly and busying herself studying price tags.
"How is Kris lately?" Adam asked, shifting the dress to his good hand.
"He's good. Pretty stressed, but really determined to be there for me and Kaleb. To provide for Kaleb. It's just been a stressful time, that's all..." Katy trailed off, scowling at an obscenely high price tag on a hideous dirt-brown dress.
Adam shook the dress he had been holding up for what felt like hours. "Hello? Sparkles! Yes or no?"
Katy wrinkled her nose. "I don't know if I like any of these... I'd really like to go home and check on Kaleb."
"Okay. Come here," Adam said abruptly, shoving the sparkly dress in her arms and guiding her toward a dressing room, where they both ducked inside. "Katy, I love you, girl, but you need to hear this. You need to take some time for yourself."
"I know, but..."
"No, you really do. There's no way you can be a good mom and a good wife if you keep bleeding yourself dry for everyone you love. You'll have nothing left to give them otherwise."
Instead of protesting, Katy sat very still, and nodded slowly.
"I think I'm gonna try this dress on," she said, as if the idea had been hers and hers alone.
Adam smiled, and excused himself. "I'll be out here, finding more."
"Sounds good," she laughed.
--
When Katy let herself out of the dressing room, and studied herself in the mirror she felt like a princess. This dress, somehow, fit like a dream. The color and the sparkles were perfect, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg like everything else she had seen.
"I couldn't find anything else I liked as much...as...that..." Adam trailed off. The sight of Katy in that dress in front of the mirror took his breath.
"What do you think?" she asked shyly, turning to look at him. Hope lit her eyes with the promise of a smile.
"I think," he said honestly, "You look beautiful in yellow."